Taken from an article in the Midlands section of the Omaha World Herald January 8, 2016, a More Commentary article by The Washington Post's Micheal Gerson.
Whatever your view of Republican politicians, the aspiration, the self-conception, of the party was set by Abraham Lincoln: human dignity, honored by human freedom and undergirded by certain moral commitments, including compassion and tolerance. Lincoln described the "promise that in due time the weights should be lifted from the shoulders of all men, and that all should have an equal chance."